Day 2: Water Truck

Wow. Today was a day of heart break and love and incredible joy, it was so inspiring and life changing. Although it is only the second day, my heart already breaks for all these incredibly joyful people that are so broken and desperate. I was on water truck all day today and it was a very interesting way to start off the trip. There was no "get your feet wet" and there was nothing that could prepare me for what I was about to see. God sent me on a journey today of shock and joy. I saw the most poverty I have ever seen today and the most joy I have ever seen today as well. During water truck i experienced so many things that shocked me and shook me. At one point, we walked out of a newly built church that brought so much hope to the community, but after leaving, I looked to my left and couldn't move or speak for about 15 seconds. What I saw was an area about as big as the area of my house, and it was all garbage. I stopped and was so taken aback by that and couldn't believe it. Throughout the day many children would show us their wounds or latch on to us so tightly begging for love and attention, which also broke my heart and shook everything in me. However, in this poverty and heartbreak there was this permeating and clear light in the experience that constantly brought me back to God and His love and showing that to these desperate people. At one stop I picked up a girl and kind of jumped as I put her in my arms, and she starts bouncing, and I said, "Jump?" and she continues bouncing so I jumped, and for about the next 30 minutes I would jump and then stop and hear, "Jum! Ju! Ju!" and so I continued jumping. The joy that lit up her face was like nothing I had ever seen before. Overall, I would say the most precious thing for me was the ability and opporunity to love all these children that are desperate for so much but mostly desperate for love, and that I could give them God's love through me was an incredible and filling experience. Today, though hard, was filled with joy and love that can only come from God.

- Abbie VandenEinde